The major point of the article is that atheists are less trusted because they don't believe that they are constantly watched by supernatural enforcers of social norms.

I suggest this reply: People do not become atheists for the sake of popularity or emotional comfort. Usually, they become atheists because honesty compels.

That is, people become atheists because they value truth over comfort. They accept unpleasant conclusions, such as: there is no afterlife, no Heaven, and no guarantee of justice; there is no supernatural loving parent to help them in times of trouble. They accept the reality of death, and the absence of safety in this world.

Therefore, we should expect that typically atheists will be honest people.

Given that atheism is an unpopular position, one which inspires distrust and hostility from the majority, anyone who is OPENLY atheist, "out of the closet", is even more likely to be an honest person.

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It is absolutely untrue that all the faithful are honest because they believe that their god is watching them. If this was the case, the world would have been as good as heaven to live in. Almost all criminal and immoral activity comes from the people with faith, since atheists are a minoscule minority in the world. so, the objection from those god believers to atheism is simply hypocracy.

If a religious faithful is good because of fear, it automatically means that religion by itself does not teach him to be good or religion has no influence on him. It also means that a fathful is not a man of conscience.